


The Art On Your Skin

by oneshotsbygabby



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Art Teacher Reader, Artist Reader, Artist Steve Rogers, Avenger Bucky Barnes, Avengers Movie Night, Based on a Tumblr Post, Bucky Barnes & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Friendship, Bucky Barnes Deserves Fluff, Bucky Barnes Feels, Domestic Avengers, Established Relationship, Explicit Language, Fluff, Movie Night, Multi, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Reader-Insert, Steve Rogers & Reader Friendship, That's honestly all this is, The Avengers Are Good Bros, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 06:14:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18047078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneshotsbygabby/pseuds/oneshotsbygabby
Summary: At the Avengers' movie night, you ask Bucky if you can paint on his skin. Of course he obliges.Once again, no pronouns were used, so this could be read as either maleorfemale.





	The Art On Your Skin

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this](http://bucky-plums-barnes.tumblr.com/post/172289878908/bucky-letting-you-use-his-back-as-a-canvas-he) on tumblr. This is all just fluff. Sometimes Bucky Barnes just needs fluff.

"Baby, can I paint you?"

The question seemed innocent enough, although Bucky knew there was more to it than that. You were an artist; the two of you had met when he had accompanied Steve to an art class he wanted to go to, and you were the teacher. You had a teaching degree, but art was the thing you loved the most -- you loved art more than you loved most people.

You had shown several pieces in a gallery downtown and were proud of everything you'd ever created. Even though Steve was taking your art class, you and he had bonded over your love of classical pieces. Your love of Van Gogh and Rembrandt and Picasso. You and Steve had talked all night about it, and when he invited you to meet the other Avengers, you jumped at the chance to just spend more time with them.

But there was no chemistry between yourself and Steve Rogers. Yeah, Steve and you were really good friends, and you loved him, but in a platonic, friendly way, There was nothing between the two of you, and doubted there ever would be. Steve was a nice guy and everything, but there was no spark between you.

However, there was a shitload of chemistry between yourself and Bucky Barnes. When you first met Bucky, things were tense, but back then, all Bucky knew _was_ tension. He hadn't been escaped from HYDRA for very long when you had met him.

Bucky and you spent a lot of time together, and even though you and Steve spent a lot of time together, and you spent time at the Tower, you and Bucky would often sneak off together. Tony had invited you for a few movie nights, but you always ended up tucked back in a corner with Bucky.

He made the first move. He often insisted on walking you back to your apartment because he often said the streets of Manhattan weren't safe for you to walk at night, and you didn't own a car. He was even sketchy about you taking a cab or the subway after dark. You had been surprised he hadn't moved in with you right away.

You and Bucky had been dating for almost three months when you asked him to move in with you. Steve had asked if you wanted to move in with them at the Tower, but you weren't an Avenger and didn't want to feel like you were taking up their time. You liked it at your apartment, though; you'd been living in the same apartment complex since you were twenty-one and got your very first apartment.

Bucky takes one glance at you from where he sat beside you on the couch. You were in the cinema room at Avengers Tower, where you spent a lot of time because Steve still lived there, and Bucky liked to spend time with his friend. Tony had invited you to come over and have dinner, and while the other team members were still in the dining room, you and Bucky were sitting in the cinema room, you half in his lap and your legs over the top of his. He had your hands in his and brought them up to his lips and pressed a kiss to the top of your hand.

"What about your paint and brushes?" Bucky asked you curiously. "Aren't they still at the apartment?"

You shake your head. "I can use Steve's. Steve has plenty of paint and brushes and everything. But I really want to paint you."

"Okay, so I need to know, baby," Bucky said, watching you with mirth dancing in his stormy eyes, "how do you want to paint me? I mean, do you want to put me on canvas, or are we talking about you actually putting paint _on_ my body?"

You grin. "You know me way too well, sweetheart, " you tease him, and see the smirk that crosses his lips.

When you're still silent, he eyes you. "Are you gonna tell me, sugar?"

"I'd like to paint you. You know, paint _on_ you. I know you like how it feels, and it's something that I like to do absentmindedly. Besides that, it's Tony's turn to pick the movie tonight, and we'll probably end up watching _Alien_ for the thousandth time."

Bucky snorted.

"And it would really just ease my mind. I'd really like it, Buck. Please?" You gave him the sad eyes as you pouted your lip a little bit and that's when he groaned.

"Oh, baby doll, you know that when you look at me like that I can hardly refuse you," he said, and even though he was trying to give you his stern face, you couldn't help but notice his mouth kept turning up into a smile. Then he sighed, "Fine, honey. You can."

Whipping his t-shirt up and off his body, he looks at you expectantly. You knew why he was looking at you the way he was -- you never could resist his body. God, you never could get over just how gorgeous your boyfriend was. He smirks as he's studying your face. You roll your eyes.

"I gotta go see Steve," you mumble, and you can feel the blush start to color your cheeks. You avert his gaze and he chuckles as you scurry into the dining room, where the Avengers were still sitting with one another, no food on the table, but they were chatting and laughing with one another.

"Where'd you and Buckaroo sneak off to?" Tony asks you curiously, and Steve rolls his eyes.

"We were in the cinema room," you answer him. You've gotten used to Tony; you and Bucky had been together for almost two years and you were over at the Tower a lot, so you had had a lot of exposure to him.

After a moment you look back to Steve, "Can I use your paints?"

"I have paints and brushes in the art room," he answers you. "Canvas and paper, too -- why, what are you planning?"

"Do you have another gallery showing coming up?" Natasha asked you. "I'd love to see some new original work."

You shook your head. "Nah, I don't want paper or canvas or anything," you answer. "I am going to paint on skin."

They all shoot you quizzical glances. You knew that Tony wouldn't be able to hold it in for very long and were actually surprised that he managed to hold his tongue for the two minutes he was able to. "Whose skin?" he finally asked.

"Bucky's," you answer him. You saw the look Tony was shooting your way, and that's when you noticed that he wasn't the only one looking at you that way. In fact, the only person that _didn't_ shoot that glance your way was Steve, and it was probably because he'd seen you paint on Bucky's skin many times before.

"Yeah, help yourself," Steve answers your question. "In the art room is everything you're gonna need. I even have a polaroid camera in there, unless you brought yours?"

"Camera?" Clint asked curiously. "Why a camera?"

You roll your eyes, "Man, what's with the third degree? Why all the questions?"

Steve rolls his eyes. "Even though they live with an artist, I don't have a lot of time actually _art_ ," he explains. "They aren't used to artists and their crazy ways."

You laugh. "It's true," you answer him, looking around the table to glance at Tony, Clint, Natasha, Wanda, and Steve. "We artists are a little insane, but it's what makes us so damn creative."

They all nod in unison, and then Clint repeats, "Why the camera?"

"I take polaroids of the pictures I paint on Bucky's skin," you answer honestly, and laugh at the shocked expressions on everybody's faces. Well, everybody except for Steve's, since he's witnessed this before. Besides, as an artist, Steve understood things that people often thought were crazy or insane. "I have a scrapbook full of them."

"Go ahead, Y/N," Steve says. "Paints and brushes in the art room. Are you gonna do it during the movie?"

"You're gonna paint during the movie?" Tony whines. "Aren't you gonna pay attention?"

"Depends," you answer honestly, watching Tony's eyes with your own. "I know it's your pick, Tony. What's on the agenda for tonight?"

" _Alien_ ," not only Tony said, but everyone else said as well. You nodded.

"Figured," you answered him. "Tony, I've seen that movie so many times I can pretty much recite it word for word, and since I've been coming to movie nights for the past two years, over three-quarters of your picks have been _Alien_."

You hear the chuckles that come from the others' mouths while Tony just stares at you, his mouth agape.

"Art room," you say, watching Steve carefully. He nods. That's when you say, "Great, Steve. Thanks."

You dart off to the art room to get the supplies, and once you finally have them, you sit down on the carpet. When Tony comes running into the room, it surprises you.

"Wait, wait, Y/N!" he exclaims, and you notice he's carrying something. It looks like a tarp, but you're not a hundred percent sure _what_ it is. "Put this down first!"

You nod, getting re-situated with the tarp underneath your body before you sit down on it. You've done this enough times that Bucky knows to lie down next to you. He lies down on his stomach, his head tilted to the side so he can see the TV if he decides he wants to watch it. You sigh before starting to open paints and pour the colors onto the cardboard you had also grabbed from Steve's art room.

"So, what are you gonna paint, Y/N?" Wanda asks you. You don't expect her to come into the room, and she came in so quietly that it made you jump. She laughs when she sees this. "Sorry," she apologized. "I just didn't realize that you didn't know I was here."

You smile at her. "It's alright," you answer her. "You have to remember that I grew up an only child and I'm not used to people sneaking up on me."

"You live with an ex-assassin," Tony says, coming into the room along with the rest of the Avengers. You smile when you notice Sam, Rhodey, Bruce, and Pepper are with them. "How can you not be used to someone sneaking up on you?"

You laugh and notice the smile on Bucky's lips. "Bucky doesn't make a thing out of sneaking up on me," you answer him.

"That's right," Bucky pipes up, adding to the conversation. He turns his head to look at the other Avengers, although all he can see is their feet. "You wanna know what happened the last time I snuck up on her?"

"When'd you do that?" Steve asked curiously.

"When I first moved in with her. She didn't realize I was behind her and when I said something, she jumped a foot in the air." When Natasha and Clint laughed, he looked at them as sternly as he could. "Don't laugh; she punched me in the fucking mouth. Hurt like a motherfucker, and even though I heal quickly, my jaw was so goddamned sore for the next few hours."

"I felt awful about it," you say honestly. "But now he knows better than to sneak up on me."

The Avengers all let out a laugh.

They all get settled and Tony tells FRIDAY to turn on the movie, and he turns the lights down. You're thankful that he doesn't turn them all the way off and figure it's because he knows you're going to paint. As the movie starts, you start mixing colors and take a paintbrush.

When you put the brush to Bucky's skin, he lets out a squeak. You hear the chuckle Natasha lets out, and Bucky says, "Yeah, Tasha, go ahead. Laugh it up. The paint's cold, though."

You let out a laugh and then start to paint.

As the movie plays, you all are quiet, but you hear the _swish swish_ of the paintbrush on Bucky's skin. When you started, you weren't sure what you wanted to paint onto Bucky's skin, but as time goes by you just improvise.

By the time the movie is over, the paint on Bucky's skin is starting to dry. That's when Natasha comes over to where the two of you are seated and looks at your art.

"Butterflies and flowers?" she asks, chuckling. "Really?"

You laugh and Bucky smiles. "Hey," he defends. "She's an artist, and I'll be her living canvas as often as she wants me to. Baby," he looks at you, "don't forget to take the polaroids. We'll need them for the scrapbook."


End file.
